Israeli Press Council
50th Anniversary with the Association of
Independent Press Councils of Europe
sept 9 2013
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Session 5: Reporting From Conflict
Zones
• (In memory of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street
Journal correspondent murdered in Pakistan
2002).
Can a war correspondent adhere
to journalistic ethics while
reporting under extreme risk.
Moderator: Dr Noam Lemelshtrich Latar
Dean
School Of Communications IDC Herzliya
Israel
Presentation:
• UNESCO’s work in promoting safety of
journalists and the issue of impunity.
Ms. Tarja Turtia, UNESCO
Panel:
• Mr. Martin Fletcher, NBC News, author
• Ms. Ilene Prusher, former Iraq/Afghanistan
• reporter for The Christian Science Monitor
• Mr. Itai Anghel, Senior correspondent, 'UVDA',
Channel 2, Israeli TV
• Mrs. Llucia Oliva, Catalunya Press Council
UNESCO Condemns Killings of
Journalists
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What is the UN Plan of Action?
• It is the first systematic UN-wide plan
which aims toward the creation of a free
and safe environment for journalists and
media workers, including social media
producers, in both conflict and nonconflict situations, with a view to
strengthening peace, democracy and
development worldwide
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Specifically via 5 Action Lines…
1. By Strengthening UN Mechanisms
2. By Cooperating with Member
States
3. By Partnering with Other
Organizations and Institutions
4. By Raising Awareness
5. By Fostering Safety Initiatives
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Implementation Strategy
• Designed by UN agencies, programmes, funds &
UN Special Rapporteurs in consultation with
intergovernmental organizations, Member
States, media houses, professional associations
and NGOs.
• Aims to set out concrete and realistic actions to
be put in place during 2013 and 2014.
• Be operationalized at international, regional,
national and local level.
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Working together
• UNESCO started the process of the UN Plan of
Action in consultation with a wide partnership.
• However, the Plan requires the active
contribution from everyone to be a success.
• Important to note that each agency is working
within their organizational mandate to
contribute to the issues and within their field of
competencies. By doing so, we can ensure that
we will have a dynamic and varied response to
reach the same objectives.
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A Multi-stakeholder Approach
• The issues of safety of journalists and
combating impunity are too complex to
be resolved by any single organization.
• The best approach to produce the most
effective result is a multi-stakeholder
approach
• A multi-stakeholder approach is also the
best way to ensure that we remain
accountable to each other.
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Building Partnerships
UN
IGO
Govt.
Public
NGO
Civil
Society
Academic
Media
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Operationalization Strategy:
Country Level
• The UN Plan must also be rooted at the country level.
• Each country is faced with its unique challenges and
opportunities. For an effective local operationalization
strategy of the UN Plan, each strategy must be based the need
of the country.
• 4 countries to begin to operationalize the UN Plan of Action:
•
•
•
•
South Sudan
Iraq
Pakistan
Nepal
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Operationalization Strategy:
Country Level
These needs could include:
• better legislation to protect and promote freedom of
expression, whether for media professionals, bloggers
or ordinary citizens;
• implement existing legislation & improve institutional
capacity to do so;
• decriminalise laws eg. criminal defamation
• crimes against freedom of expression to be
investigated & the perpetrators prosecuted;
• safety-related training for media professionals, media
owners, lawmakers, police forces, lawyers;
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Operationalization Strategy:
Country Level
These needs could include:
• safety fund for journalists in danger;
• network of lawyers for media professionals;
• promote a gender-sensitive approach within work on
the safety of journalists, including the safety of women
journalists.
• dialogue with all relevant stakeholders &
harmonisation of activities.
• national sensitization campaign
• develop training manuals and also a module for
journalism schools.
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In-Country Progress: Nepal
• Received USD 566,000 from UN Peace Fund for
Nepal
• National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will
form a multi-stakeholder mechanism for
promoting free expression and ensuring safety of
Human Rights Defenders, particularly journalists
in Nepal.
• aims to serve as a nationally owned platform for
coordinating & addressing threats to FOE, including
the safety of individuals and groups who are targeted.
It also builds on the UN Plan
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In-Country Progress: Pakistan
• June 2012: a national consultative meeting took place where
they produced a draft National Plan of Action on Safety of
Pakistanis Journalists and Media as well as the Islamabad
Declaration.
• March 2013: a follow-up of an International Conference on
Safety and Security of Journalists in Pakistan, to create a
formal alliance for taking forward action.
• June 2013: Funds has been raised from the Norwegian
Refugee Council to provide human resource to co-ordinate the
UN Plan in Pakistan.
• Oct 2013: 1st country to roll out the Journalists’ Safety
Indicators (JSI)
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In-Country Progress: South
Sudan
• A National Plan of Action is being drafted by the Thematic
Working Group on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of
Impunity that includes 20 different organizations
• Amongst the activities foreseen:
• Donor meetings within foreseen for July 2013 and January 2014
• Monitoring and evaluation of the Country Level Action Plan
activities in all 10 States
• UNESCO Media Development Indicator (MDI) assessment in
South Sudan
• UNMISS HRD will carry out 10 training activities for police and
security forces ending December 2013.
• Challenges: sustainable funding and adequate human
resources remain an issue to be resolved.
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In-Country Progress: Iraq
• The first national consultative meeting is scheduled to take
place in October 2013, with the aim to produce a national plan
of action.
• Challenges: there is still difficulty in getting a capable full-time
human resource to coordinate the work of UN Plan of Action
in the country.
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Where will we realistically be
in 2015?
• A reduction in the number of killings of
journalists.
• A reduction in the number of uninvestigated or
unsolved cases of killings of journalists.
• A reduction of other forms of attack against
journalists
• An increase of awareness on the issue of safety
and impunity amongst the UN agencies, public,
civil society, academic, media professionals,
NGOs, IGOs, and government officials.
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Where will we realistically be
in 2015?
• An increase of awareness on the issue of safety
and impunity amongst the UN agencies, public,
civil society, academic, media professionals,
NGOs, IGOs, and government officials.
• An increase in better legislations and policies
gear towards improving safety and combating
impunity.
• An increase in the availability and accessibility of
safety mechanisms and resources for journalists
in need including better preventive trainings for
journalists.
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New Activity: Journalists’
Safety Indicators (JSI)
• Based on the UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators
methodology.
• Goal: to provide baseline information on the safety of
journalists and impunity, to assess its development over time.
• National level JSI and Int’l level JSI are available.
• Types of questions:
• A. General indicators:
• Number & types of other threats to journalists.
• Number & types of actual attacks on journalists.
• Number & types of attacks on media institutions.
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JSI (continued)
More nuanced and detailed questions:
• B. What are UN & Other IGOs doing to address the issues incountry?
• Eg. Does the UN system supports specific projects and
activities on building and reinforcing the capacity to
monitor and assess safety?
• Eg. Does the UN system highlights the safety of
women journalists?
• E.g Does international actors have dedicated focal
points on the issues?
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JSI (continued)
More nuanced and detailed questions:
• C. What are States institutions and political actors doing?
• Eg. Does States have laws which protect journalists?
• Eg. Does the State publishes updated data about
attacks on journalists and impunity?
• D. What are Civil Society Organisations and Academia doing?
• Eg. Are CSOs analysing data to produce high quality
understanding of circumstances and causes of killings
and impunity?
• Eg. Do CSOs have resources to work on safety issues?
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New Activity: Global Survey on
Women Journalists’ Safety
In collaboration with:
• International News Safety Institute (INSI)
• International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)
• Austrian Federal Ministry for European and Int’l Affairs
• Objective: Comprehensive questions designed to look into the
global situation of female journalists and the nature of the
dangers they face.
• URL:
http://www.newssafety.org/news.php?news=20670&cat=pres
s-room-news-release
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New Activity: Global Survey on
Women Journalists’ Safety
Examples:
• Have you experienced invasion of your personal space?
• Have you experienced unwanted comments on dress and
appearance?
• Please tell us your ideas as to why the perpetrator acted the
way he or she did.
• Have you experienced racial harassment in relation to your
work?
• Have you ever experienced any physical violence in relation to
your work?
• How did this experience of physical violence affect you? i.e.
did you change or leave your job, did it have a psychological
impact?
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Newsletter on Safety
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• www.unesco.org/webworld/en/safety-of-journalists
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